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A CHECK with local supermarket chains showed that more people in Singapore are buying the healthier brown rice these days.
Brown, or unpolished, rice retains the outer layer, called bran, which contains nutrients and gives the rice its colour.
Ms Pooja Vig of The Nutrition Clinic noted that among Asians, Indians are genetically more predisposed to diabetes.
A study by the Singapore Eye Research Institute found that one in three Indians in Singapore are diabetic.
“White rice adds to the diabetes risk because it has a higher glycemic index, which means it causes blood sugar levels to rise faster than brown rice,” she said.
“Brown rice, with its lower glycemic index, is a healthier option as it is broken down into glucose a lot more slowly.”
Dr Leong Lai Peng, a senior lecturer in food science and technology at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Chemistry, said: “It is always advisable to eat the unpolished version. If any component is removed, such as the bran layer and germ in white rice, the nutrients are lost too.”
A small but growing number of people in Singapore have definitely taken the advice.
Retailers and importers here reported an increase in brown rice sales this year compared with last year.
FairPrice saw a 20 per cent jump even though the volume of brown rice sales remains small. The ratio of brown rice to white rice sold is three to 250.
A Cold Storage spokesman said that brown rice is popular with both health-conscious and elderly customers.
At Lam Soon Singapore, which sells the Naturel brand of organic brown rice, sales have gone up by 160 per cent since last year, said its senior marketing manager, Ms Sulina Tsai.
Madam Ng Mie Suan, 49, a cook at a childcare centre, said she bought her first packet of brown rice 15 years ago.
After all these years, her family no longer eats white rice, she added.
Ms Pooja said she likes the taste and the crunch of brown rice compared with white rice.
But she suggests that first-timers start by adding brown rice to white rice and then slowly increasing the amount of brown rice until they are used to it.
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